Gausman strikes out career-high 13 as Blue Jays beat Mariners with Varsho's 10th-inning RBI single

A slumping Daulton Varsho delivered a much-needed walk-off extra-inning hit. Still, starter Kevin Gausman and the pitching staff continued to carry the Toronto Blue Jays to one of their best starts in club history.

The victory extended the Blue Jays' (18-9) win streak to six games and matched their best record after 27 games, set in 1992 and tied in 2009.

Meanwhile, the Mariners (11-16) have dropped four straight.

"We're throwing the crap out of it right now," Gausman said about how well the Blue Jays starters and relievers have performed recently.

"We just have kind of a bulldog mentality, next guy up mentality and making them beat us mentality. We're attacking the zone and going after them with our best stuff."

Gausman needed his best stuff to give the Blue Jays a chance to survive 25-year-old rookie Easton McGee. He arrived in Toronto with only three innings of experience from a relief outing on the final weekend of 2022.

McGee retired the first 12 batters he faced before issuing a walk to Matt Chapman to lead off the fifth inning. Chapman then stopped the no-hit bid with a two-out double off the top of the centre-field wall to end McGee's afternoon in the seventh inning.

"It wasn't the best pitch, but I'm not going to nitpick and say I'm mad," McGee said. "That was awesome. I'm very thankful."

He escaped injury in the sixth inning when Jarred Kelenic's comebacker hit the Toronto starter high on the back of his left leg.

Gausman recovered to toss out Kelenic and retired the next two Mariners to end the inning. He survived the seventh after surrendering back-to-back singles with two out, striking out his final batter, Sam Haggerty, for his MLB-leading 54th strikeout.

'Pitching can be contagious'

Gausman turned the game over to relievers Zach Pop, Jordan Romano and Erik Swanson (1-0), who struck out three in the 10th inning.

The Blue Jays bullpen has gone 15 innings without yielding a run through five games on this homestand.

"Pitching can be contagious, like hitting," Toronto manager John Schneider said.

After Swanson's decisive 10th inning, Varsho crushed a pitch off Seattle reliever Trevor Gott (0-2) to right centre field to score designated runner Bo Bichette. The Blue Jays loaded the bases with none out with Vladimir Guerrero's single to centre and an intentional walk to Chapman before a sellout crowd of 41,475. Varsho has just 18 hits in his first 94 at-bats with Toronto.

McGee made his first career start, arriving at Rogers Centre with only three innings of MLB experience from a relief appearance for the Mariners late last season.

Seattle manager Scott Servais replaced his rookie pitcher with reliever Matt Brash. McGee struck out a pair in his 64-pitch, 6 2/3 innings.

In his 108-pitch shutout performance, Gausman allowed six hits and issued only one walk. He struck out former Blue Jay Teoscar Hernandez three times.

Toronto closer Jordan Romano also fanned Hernandez in the ninth. Swanson struck out three and walked one in the 10th inning.

WATCH l Kind gesture leaves young Blue Jays fan in disbelief:

#TheMoment a kind gesture leaves a young Blue Jays fan in disbelief

2 years ago

Duration 1:25

A young Toronto Blue Jays fan was left in utter disbelief when outfielder Kevin Kiermaier tossed him his batting gloves after hitting a two-run triple.